Agilent Technologies Inc (NYSE: A) stock rose over 5.3% on Feb 17th, 2021 (as of 10:34 am GMT-5 ; Source: Google finance) after the company posted better than earnings estimate for the first quarter of FY 21. Pharma, the company’s largest market was strong across all regions delivering 20% growth. The growth was led by NASD which experienced significant growth in the quarter, albeit against the easiest comp of the year. NASD has contributed 4 points to the overall pharma growth rate. The company has ramped up the Frederick oligo facility and the recently announced capacity expansion in Frederick is on track.
The small molecule grew mid-teens while biopharma excluding NASD delivered 20% growth due to in part by strong demand for LC and mass spec instrumentation. The company saw strong year-end demand from pharma customers, and is also seeing increased business related to the characterization of oligo-based therapies and vaccines. The food market also experienced strong double-digit growth during the first quarter, posting a 22% increase in revenue. The company’s business grew in all geographies due to increased demand for food safety and quality testing. China is leading the way driven by investments in both commercial and government entities. Environmental and forensics grew double-digits coming in at 10% core growth. Broad regional growth shows strong tech refresh or replacement demand from contract labs. The diagnostics and clinical revenue rose 9% during the first quarter and has benefited from growth in COVID-related applications, primarily in the Americas and Europe. The pathology business grew slightly as non-COVID testing continues to improve, but has not yet recovered to pre-pandemic levels globally.
A in the first quarter of FY 21 has reported the adjusted earnings per share of $1.06, beating the analysts’ estimates for the adjusted earnings per share of 89 cents, according to figures compiled by Thomson Reuters. The company had reported the adjusted revenue growth of 14 percent to $1.55 billion in the first quarter of FY 21. Core revenue growth was 11.3% while currency contributed 2.8 points of growth.
Moreover, geographically, China rose 25% leading all geographies led by the food and pharma markets. The Americas posted a strong double-digit performance during the quarter with 13% growth while Europe was up 6% both also led by pharma and food. The operating margin for the first quarter came in at 25.5%. This is up an impressive 260 basis points from last year on the back of volume and spending discipline and this result includes the impact of increased strategic investments the company had started last quarter.